In order to attract more customers and be more competitive, many commercial airline companies are seeking to expand the types of services and conveniences offered aboard their aircraft. One such convenience that many airlines already offers a wireless telephone service allowing passengers aboard the aircraft to make and receive telephone calls. With the increasing everyday use of the Internet for both business and personal purposes, some airline companies have recently begun providing high-speed data services, such as Internet access, aboard their flights.
One current method of providing high-speed data services such as broadband Internet access aboard an in-flight aircraft 100, as illustrated in FIG. 1, typically requires the use of a terrestrial or land-based system 110 in conjunction with a satellite 120 orbiting the planet. According to this method, wireless data signals representing the “upstream” data are transmitted from the aircraft 100 to a terrestrial-based system 110 that includes an antenna and transceiver. The “downstream” data is retrieved from sources such as the Internet by the terrestrial-based system 110, which then transmits the data to orbiting satellite 120. Satellite 120 then retransmits the data to aircraft 100, thereby completing the “loop.”
A second method (not depicted) currently in use for providing high-speed data services onboard an aircraft 100 also includes the use of both a terrestrial-based system 110 and a satellite 120. However, unlike the previous method, the upstream signals are not transmitted directly from the aircraft 100 to the terrestrial-based system 110. Instead, the upstream signal transmitted by the aircraft 100 is first received by the satellite 120, which then re-transmits the signal to the terrestrial-based system 110. Accordingly, neither upstream nor downstream data signals travel directly between the terrestrial-based system 110 and the aircraft 100, but instead must be relayed through a satellite 120.
The asymmetric manner of the first method, which transmits data directly from the aircraft 100 to the terrestrial-based system 110, but requires data to return by way of orbiting satellite 120, results in several disadvantages. First, the system is quite complex and expensive due not only to the requirement of a satellite, but also the need for terrestrial-based transmitters and antennae that are powerful enough to communicate with the space-based satellite. Operating costs also remain quite high due to the significant amount of power needed to run a terrestrial-based transceiver and antenna capable of transmitting to a satellite. Lastly, reliability and ease of repair are issues due to the difficulty in physically accessing the satellite, which can result in long durations of down time of the overall system. The second method of transmitted data to the aircraft 100 suffers from the same disadvantages as it similarly requires the use of satellite 120. Accordingly, it also is expensive to setup and operate, not to mention difficult to maintain and repair.
Therefore, the inventors hereof have recognized the need for a new system and method for providing wireless high-speed data service to an in-flight aircraft.